ES2720352T3 - Apparatus and procedure for providing HARQ feedback in a multi-carrier wireless communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

A wireless communication method comprising: receiving (702) downlink signaling on a plurality of downlink carriers; determining (704) an auto-repeat hybrid request confirmation feedback, HARQ, corresponding to each of the plurality of carriers; selecting (706) a first HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ confirmation feedback corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least two of the plurality of carriers, wherein the first HARQ feedback symbol is selected from one of a plurality of codebooks; selecting (710) a second HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ confirmation feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least one of the plurality of carriers, wherein the second HARQ feedback symbol is selected from one of the plurality of codebooks; and transmitting the first and second HARQ feedback symbols on an uplink, wherein the transmission comprises modulating at least a first part of a time slot (302) of an uplink carrier with the first HARQ feedback symbol, and modulating a second part of the uplink carrier timeslot (302), distinct from the first part of the timeslot (302), with the second HARQ feedback symbol.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Apparatus and procedure for providing HARQ feedback in a multi-carrier wireless communication system

Countryside

[0001] Aspects of the present disclosure relate in general to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to the provision of feedback information in a multi-carrier wireless communication system.

Background

[0002] Wireless communication networks are widely used to provide various communication services, such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts and so on. These networks, which are normally multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users sharing the available network resources. An example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the Radio Access Network (RAN) defined as part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology backed by the 3rd Generation Association Project (3GPP) . The UMTS, which is the successor of the Global Mobile Communications System (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Broadband Code Multiple Division Access (W-CDMA), Multiple Access by Division of Code and Time Division (TD-CDMA) and Multiple Access by Division of Synchronous Code and Division of Time (TD-SCDMA). The UMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSDPA), which provides higher data transfer rates and capacity to the associated UMTS networks.

[0003] As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, research and development continue to progress UMTS technologies, as described in WO 2006/105308 A2, not only to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but to make progress and enhance the user experience with mobile communications.

SUMMARY

[0004] The aforementioned demand is satisfied by the subject matter of the independent claims. As examples, a method and apparatus are described, which provide hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to the state of multiple downlink carriers, whether or not MIMO is configured. In this case, for at least some configurations, with respect to the selection of HARQ feedback symbols, the downlink carriers are grouped into groups of one or two carriers, so that the symbol code books can be used. HARQ feedback that was previously implemented in conventional HSDPA or DC-HSDPA systems. That is, after encoding a data stream, the HARQ feedback symbols selected from a plurality of codebooks configured for groups of one or two of the downlink carriers are used to modulate an uplink channel. Modulation or channeling can be achieved with double channel codes or a single channel code with a reduced scatter factor to insert two symbols into a single time slot.

[0005] In one example, the disclosure provides a wireless communication method that includes receiving downlink signaling on a plurality of downlink carriers and determining hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to each of the plurality of carriers. A first HARQ feedback symbol is selected to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of carriers. In this case, the first subset includes at least two of the plurality of carriers. A second HARQ feedback symbol is selected to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers. In this case, the second subset includes at least one of the plurality of carriers. The first and second HARQ feedback symbols are transmitted on an uplink.

[0006] Another example, aspect of the disclosure provides a wireless communication method that includes providing a first feedback symbol corresponding to a decoding state of information received in a plurality of downlink carriers, and providing a corresponding second feedback symbol. to a state of decoding information received in at least one downlink carrier.

[0007] Yet another example of the disclosure provides an apparatus for wireless communication that includes a receiver for receiving downlink signaling on a plurality of downlink carriers. A processor determines the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to each of the plurality of carriers, selects a first HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least two of the plurality of carriers, and selecting a second HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least one of the plurality of carriers. A transmitter transmits the first and second HARQ feedback symbols on an uplink.

[0008] Yet another example of the disclosure provides an apparatus for wireless communication that includes means for receiving downlink signaling on a plurality of downlink carriers, and means for determining the corresponding hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback. to each of the plurality of carriers. In addition, the apparatus includes means for selecting a first HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least two of the plurality of carriers, means for selecting a second HARQ feedback symbol for encoding the HARQ feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least one of the plurality of carriers, and means for transmitting the first and second HARQ feedback symbols on an uplink.

[0009] Yet another example of the disclosure provides an apparatus for wireless communication that includes means for providing a first feedback symbol corresponding to a state of decoding information received on a plurality of downlink carriers and means for providing a second symbol of communication. feedback corresponding to a state of decoding information received in at least one downlink carrier.

[0010] Yet another example of the disclosure provides a computer program product that includes a computer-readable medium that has instructions to make a computer receive downlink signaling on a plurality of downlink carriers, determine the request feedback automatic repeat hybrid (HARQ) corresponding to each of the plurality of carriers, select a first HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least two of the plurality of carriers, Select a second HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least one of the plurality of carriers, and transmit the first and second HARQ feedback symbols on an uplink.

[0011] Yet another example of the disclosure provides an apparatus for wireless communication that includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to at least one processor. In this case, the at least one processor is configured to receive downlink signaling in a plurality of downlink carriers, to determine the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to each of the plurality of carriers, to select a first HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of carriers that includes at least two of the plurality of carriers, to select a second HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers that includes at least one of the plurality of carriers, and for transmitting the first and second HARQ feedback symbols on an uplink.

[0012] These and other aspects and examples of the invention will be more fully understood upon review of the detailed description, which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus that uses a processing system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram that conceptually illustrates an example of a telecommunications system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that conceptually illustrates the frame structure of the uplink high-speed dedicated physical control channel (HS-DPCCH).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram that conceptually illustrates three exemplary pipeline schemes to encode HARQ feedback in the HS-DPCCH.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram that conceptually illustrates three exemplary time slots within the HS-DPCCH to convey the HARQ feedback.

FIG. 6A and 6B are simplified schematic diagrams of a UE in communication with a node B according to an exemplary aspect of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a pair of flowcharts that illustrate an exemplary process according to the aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram that conceptually illustrates an example of a node B in communication with a UE in a telecommunications system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] The detailed description set forth below in connection with the accompanying drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein can be implemented. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts can be implemented without these specific details. In some cases, well-known structures and components are shown in the form of a block diagram in order to avoid hiding these concepts.

[0015] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus 100 that uses a processing system 114. In this example, the processing system 114 can be implemented with a bus architecture, generally represented by the bus 102. Bus 102 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges, depending on the specific application of the processing system 114 and the overall design restrictions. Bus 102 jointly links various circuits, including one or more processors, generally represented by processor 104, and computer-readable media, generally represented by computer-readable medium 106. Bus 102 can also link other various circuits, such such as timing sources, peripheral devices, voltage regulators and energy management circuits, which are well known in the art and, therefore, will not be described in greater detail. A bus interface 108 provides an interface between the bus 102 and a transceiver 110. The transceiver 110 provides a means of communication with various other devices on a transmission medium. Depending on the nature of the apparatus, a user interface 112 (for example, a keyboard, a screen, a speaker, a microphone, a joystick) can also be provided.

[0016] The processor 104 is responsible for managing the bus 102 and general processing, including the execution of software stored in the computer-readable medium 106. The software, when executed by the processor 104, causes the processing system 114 perform the various functions described below for any particular device. The computer-readable medium 106 can also be used to store the data that is manipulated by the processor 104 when the software is run.

[0017] The various concepts presented throughout this disclosure can be implemented through a wide variety of telecommunications systems, network architectures and communication standards. By way of example and without limitation, the aspects of the present disclosure illustrated in FIG. 2 are presented with reference to a UMTS 200 system that uses a W-CDMA air interface. A UMTS network includes three interacting domains: a central network (CN) 204, a UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) 202 and the user equipment (UE) 210. In this example, the UTRAN 202 network provides various services wireless devices that include telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts and / or other services. The UTRAN 202 may include a plurality of Radio Network Subsystems (RNS) such as an RNS 207, each controlled by a respective radio network controller (RNC), such as an RNC 206. In this case, the UTRAN 202 may include any number of RNC 206 and RNS 207, in addition to the RNC 206 and RNS 207 illustrated herein. The RNC 206 is a device responsible, among other things, for assigning, reconfiguring and releasing radio resources within the RNS 207. The RNC 206 can be interconnected with other RNCs (not shown) in the UTRAN 202 through various types of interfaces such as a physical direct connection, a virtual network or the like, using any suitable transport network.

[0018] Communication between a UE 210 and a node B 208 can be considered to include a physical layer (PHY) and a medium access control layer (MAC). Furthermore, it can be considered that the communication between a UE 210 and an RNC 206 by means of a respective node B 208 includes a radio resource control layer (RRC). In the present specification, the PHY layer can be considered layer 1; the MAC layer can be considered layer 2; and the RRC layer can be considered layer 3. The following information in this document uses terminology introduced in the Radio Resource Control Protocol (RRC) Specification, 3GPP TS 25331 v9.1.0.

[0019] The geographic region covered by SRNS 207 can be divided into a number of cells, with a radio transceiver apparatus serving each cell. A radio transceiver device is commonly called node B in UMTS applications, but it can also be referred to by those skilled in the art base station (BS), base transceiver station (BTS), radio base station, radio transceiver, transceiver function , set of basic services (BSS), set of extended services (ESS), access point (AP) or with some other appropriate terminology. For clarity, three B 208 nodes are shown in each SRNS 207; however, SRNS 207 can Include any number of wireless B nodes. Nodes B 208 provide wireless access points to a central network (CN) 204 for any number of mobile devices. Examples of a mobile device include a mobile phone, a smartphone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) telephone, a laptop, a foldable laptop, an ultraportable, a Smartbook, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system (GPS) device, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (for example, an MP3 player), a camera, a game console or any other device of similar operation. The mobile device is commonly referred to as user equipment (UE) in UMTS applications, but it can also be referred to by those skilled in the art, mobile station (MS), subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal (AT), mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, headset, terminal, user agent, mobile client, client or with some other suitable terminology. In a UMTS system, the UE 210 may also include a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) 211, which contains information about a user's subscription to a network. For illustrative purposes, a UE 210 is shown in communication with a series of nodes B 208. The downlink (DL), also called a direct link, refers to the communication link from a node B 208 to a UE 210, and the link Uplink (UL), also called reverse link, refers to the communication link from a UE 210 to a node B 208.

[0020] The central network 204 is interconnected with one or more access networks, such as UTRAN 202. As shown, the central network 204 is a central GSM network. However, as those skilled in the art will recognize, the various concepts presented throughout this disclosure can be implemented in a RAN, or in another suitable access network, to provide the EU with access to different types of core networks. of GSM networks.

[0021] The core network 204 includes a circuit switching domain (CS) and a packet switching domain (PS). Some of the circuit switching elements are a mobile services switching center (MSC), a visitor location register (VLR) and a gateway MSC. The packet switching elements include a service GPRS support node (SGSN) and a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN). Some network elements, such as EIR, HLR, VLR and AuC, can be shared by both circuit switching and packet switching domains. In the illustrated example, the core network 204 supports circuit switching services with an MSC 212 and a GMSC 214. In some applications, the GMSC 214 may be referred to as a media gateway (MGW). One or more RNC, such as RNC 206, can be connected to the MSC 212. The MSC 212 is a device that controls the call settings, call routing and mobility functions of the UE. The MSC 212 also includes a visitor location register (VLR) that contains information regarding the subscriber during the presence of a UE in the coverage area of the MSC 212. The GMSC 214 provides a gateway through the MSC 212 for the UE access a circuit switching network 216. The GMSC 214 includes a base location register (HLR) 215 containing subscriber data, such as data reflecting the details of the services to which a particular user has been subscribed. The HLR is also associated with an authentication center (AuC) that contains subscriber-specific authentication data. When a call is received for a particular UE, the GMSC 214 consults the HLR 215 to determine the location of the UE and forwards the call to the particular MSC serving that location.

[0022] The core network 204 also supports packet data services with a service GPRS support node (SGSN) 218 and a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) 220. The GPRS, which means general packet service by radio , is designed to provide packet data services at higher speeds than those available in standard circuit switched data services. The GGSN 220 provides a connection for the UTRAN 202 to a packet-based network 222. The packet-based network 222 may be the Internet, a private data network or some other suitable packet-based network. The main function of the GGSN 220 is to provide the UE 210 packet-based network connectivity. Data packets can be transferred between GGSN 220 and UE 210 through SGSN 218, which primarily performs the same functions in the packet-based domain that MSC 212 performs in the circuit switched domain.

[0023] The UMTS air interface is a Direct Sequence Multiple Division (DS-Cd m A) Division Multiple Access System. The spread spectrum DS-CDMA disperses user data through multiplication by a sequence of pseudorandom bits called chips. The W-CDMA air interface for UMTS is based on such direct sequence spread spectrum technology and also requires frequency division duplexing (FDD). The FDD uses a different carrier frequency for the uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) between a node B 208 and a UE 210. Another air interface for the UMTS that uses DS-CDMa, and uses division duplexing of time, is the TD-SCDMA air interface. Those skilled in the art will recognize that, although various examples described herein may refer to an air interface of the W-CDMA, the underlying principles are equally applicable to an air interface of the TD-SCDMA.

[0024] The HSPA configuration used in this example includes a series of improvements in the 3G / WCDMA air interface, facilitating higher performance and reduced latency. Among other modifications with respect to previous versions, the HSPA uses the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), shared channel transmission and modulation and adaptive coding. The rules that define HSPA include HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) and HSUPA (high speed uplink packet access).

[0025] The HSDPA uses the high-speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) as its transport channel. The HS-DSCH is implemented through three physical channels: the high-speed downlink shared physical channel (HS-PDSCH), the high-speed control shared channel (HS-SCCH) and the dedicated high-speed physical control channel (HS-DPCCH).

[0026] Among these physical channels, the HS-DPCCH can carry uplink feedback signaling relative to downlink HS-DSCH transmissions and HS-SCCH commands. For example, FIG. 3 illustrates the frame structure of the HS-DPCCH according to an exemplary aspect of the disclosure. The feedback signaling may include the confirmation of hybrid ARQ (HARQ-ACk) 302 and the channel quality indication (CQI) 304, and in case the UE is configured in MIMO mode, the precoding control indication (PCI ) 306. Each subframe (for example, having a length of 2 ms (3 * 2560 chips)) may include 3 slots 308A, 308b and 308C, and each slot 308 has a length of 2560 chips. The HARQ-a Ck 302 can be transported in the first slot 308A of the HS-DPCCH subframe. The CQI 304, and in case the UE is configured in MIMO mode, also the PCI 306, can be transported in the second and / or third slot 308B and 308C of the HS-DPCCH subframe.

[0027] In a typical direct sequence code division multiple access system (DS-CDMA), such as HSPA, the data signals in both the uplink and the downlink are each combined with a respective scatter code which has a certain chip rate, to separate a plurality of simultaneous transmissions from each other and allow the recovery of individual data signals. For example, in a given downlink carrier, a data stream intended for a given user can be dispersed by applying an appropriate dispersion code. At the receiving end of the signal, the signal is decrypted and the data flow is recovered by applying the appropriate dispersion code. By using a plurality of dispersion codes, multiple codes can be assigned to each subscriber, allowing simultaneous delivery of multiple services. Similarly, in the uplink, multiple streams can be transmitted from a UE on the same channel by applying a plurality of channelization codes.

[0028] In one aspect of the disclosure, an appropriate choice of a channeling code may allow the encoding of additional information in a data stream. For example, two forms of channelization code can be used on an HSDPA link: one for the precoding control indication (PCI) and the channel quality indication (CQI), and another for the ACK / NACK indicators (confirmation / negative confirmation) or DTX (discontinuous transmission) of HARQ.

[0029] In particular, the channel code corresponding to the HARQ feedback can use an appropriate number of bits to encode the HARQ ACK / NACK / DTX state for each transport block in each of the carriers in the downlink. In a conventional W-CDMA system, 10 bits of code are used for HARQ feedback, using a channelization code with a dispersion factor (SF) of 256 chips per symbol.

[0030] Systems that use HSDPA can implement multiple carriers (3GPP uses the term "cell" to refer to a carrier), for example, 4C-HSDPA for a system of 4 carriers, or more generally, MC-HSDPA for multiple cells, in which a plurality of HS-DSCH channels can be used on different carriers. That is, a UE can be programmed in a service HS-DSCH cell as well as in one or more secondary service HS-DSCH cells on parallel HS-DSCH transport channels from the same node B. Of course, experts in the The technique will comprise that any one of the plurality of carriers can be configured to function as the service HS-DSCH cell or the secondary service HS-DSCH cell for a particular UE. In this case, data transfer rates and system capacity can be increased compared to systems that only use a single carrier for the downlink.

[0031] For MC-HSDPA systems, HARQ ACK / NACK feedback signaling can be sent separately for each downlink channel, or together as a composite HARQ ACK / NACK corresponding to two or more downlink channels . For a system that encodes HARK ACK / NACK according to the selection of channelization codes, as described above, if the HARQ ACK / NACK is sent separately for each downlink carrier, the UE may use channelization codes plural. When plural channel codes are used, each channel code can be adapted to provide the HARQ ACK / NACK for a respective downlink carrier.

[0032] However, a DC-HSDPA system may implement one or more channelization codes that can provide composite HARK ACK / NACK information as feedback corresponding to a plurality of downlink carriers. In this case, the channeling code of a codebook can be selected in which each code symbol corresponds to a composite HARQ ACK / NACK, that is, an ACK / NACK corresponding to each of a plurality of carriers of downlink at a time.

[0033] HSPA +, or evolved HSPA, is an evolution of the HSPA standard that includes multiple inputs and multiple outputs (MIMO) and 64-QAM, allowing increased performance and higher performance. That is, in one aspect of the disclosure, node B 208 and / or UE 210 (see FIG. 2) may have multiple antennas that support MIMO technology. The use of MIMO technology allows node B 208 to exploit the spatial domain to support spatial multiplexing, beam shaping and transmission diversity.

[0034] MIMO is a term generally used to refer to the technology of multiple antennas, that is, multiple transmit antennas (multiple inputs to the channel) and multiple receive antennas (multiple outputs from the channel). MIMO systems, in general, enhance the performance of data transmission, allowing diversity gains to reduce multipath fading and increase transmission quality, and spatial multiplexing gains to increase data throughput.

[0035] Spatial multiplexing can be used to transmit different data streams simultaneously on the same frequency. The data streams can be transmitted to a single UE 210 to increase the data transfer rate, or to multiple UE 210 to increase the overall capacity of the system. This is achieved by spatially precoding each data stream and then transmitting each spatially precoded stream through a different transmission antenna on the downlink. The spatially precoded data streams reach UE 210 with different spatial rubrics, which allows each of the UE 210 to recover the one or more data streams destined for that UE 210. In the uplink, each UE 210 transmits a spatially precoded data stream, which allows node B 208 to identify the source of each spatially precoded data stream.

[0036] Spatial multiplexing is generally used when the channel conditions are good. When the channel conditions are less favorable, beam shaping can be used to focus the transmission energy in one or more directions. This can be achieved by spatially precoding the data for transmission through multiple antennas. To achieve good coverage at the edges of the cell, a single-flow beam shaping transmission can be used in combination with the transmission diversity.

[0037] In general, for MIMO systems that use n transmission antennas, n transport blocks can be transmitted simultaneously on the same carrier, using the same channelization code. It should be appreciated that the different transport blocks sent on the n transmission antennas may have the same, or different, modulation and coding schemes with each other.

[0038] On the other hand, single input and multiple outputs (SIMO) generally refers to a system that uses a single transmission antenna (a single channel input) and multiple reception antennas (multiple outputs from the channel). Therefore, in a SIMO system, a single transport block is sent on the respective carrier. Using this terminology, a single input and single output system (SISO) is one that uses a single transmit and receive antenna.

[0039] When MIMO may be implemented through one or more of a plurality of carriers, HARQ-ACK feedback can become quite cumbersome. That is, the number of Ck / NACK hypotheses that the UE can use in order to respond to different programming scenarios that involve SIMO and MIMO transmissions from a node B can become quite large. As an illustration, Table 1 lists the HARQ-ACK hypotheses for a 3C-HSDPA B node that schedules SIMO transmissions on two carriers and MIMO transmissions (including two transport blocks) on a third carrier (S / S / M). In each of the two SIMO carriers, the HARQ feedback can be an ACK, a NACK or an indication that no signal was received on that carrier (called discontinuous transmission, DTX). In the MIMO carrier, the HARQ feedback can be an ACK for one or both of the two transport blocks depending on what was received, an ACK for a transport block and a NACK for the other transport block, or a DTX if No transport block was received. For this relatively simple system with a single MIMO carrier of every three carriers, there are 44 HARQ hypotheses to cover all possible feedbacks, not including the conventional PRE / POST indication that can add two more hypotheses to this number.

Table 1

[0040] In addition, a code book for HARQ feedback coding can be even larger than the number of HARQ hypotheses for a given system. That is, in the previous example with two SIMO carriers and one MIMO carrier (abbreviated as S / S / M), the UE must have a response prepared not only for an S / S / M transmission, but also for S / S transmissions S / S, since the UE can only receive one of the transport blocks programmed in the MIMO channel, without having received an indication that that channel was actually a MIMO channel. For the example of an S / S / M system, the size of the ACK / NACK / DTX codebook includes 62 unique code words, excluding PRE / POST.

[0041] As can be seen from this description, the number of HARQ hypotheses grows rapidly as the number of carriers grows, and when more of the carriers can have MIMO configured. In a 4C-HSDPA system with MIMO configured on all four carriers, a code book with 2320 unique code words is required, excluding PRE / POST.

[0042] In theory, the most optimal solution for providing HARQ feedback in an MC-HSDPA system would be to create a single codebook and jointly code the ACK / NACK feedback for all carriers. That is, according to an exemplary aspect of the disclosure, a unique channelization code can be used in the HS-DPCCH, with the conventional dispersion factor SF = 256, in which a new codebook is designed to encode the HARQ feedback for each of the plurality of carriers.

[0043] However, the code rate corresponding to the transmission of 4C-HSDPA code words in a single channelization code is essentially one. That is, while, in general, there are 10 symbols per ACK / NACK slot, more than 10 bits are necessary, for example, for the 2320 unique code words needed for a 4C-HSDPA system with MIMO enabled.

[0044] According to one aspect of the disclosure, from a practical point of view, it makes sense to jointly code the feedback for groups of two carriers at the same time. That is, a lot of time and effort has been invested in previous versions of 3GPP specifications to create efficient code books for systems with up to two carriers (i.e., DC-HSDPA). In this way, existing codebooks already implemented in the UE hardware can be reused to provide HARQ feedback on HSDPA systems with more than two carriers and MIMO.

[0045] In one aspect of the disclosure, plural channelization codes may be used to provide HARQ feedback, in which each channelization code is adapted to provide HARQ feedback for a group of one or two carriers. For example, in a 3C-HSDPA or a 4C-HSDPA system, double channelization codes can be used, in which each channelization code provides HARQ feedback for a group of one or two downlink carriers.

[0046] In another aspect of the disclosure, a unique channelization code can be used, with a reduction of the dispersion factor SF below the conventional SF = 256. In this way, when the dispersion factor SF is less than 256, the number of symbols per ACK / NACK slot can be increased beyond 10, and therefore, a suitable code book is possible to encode the HARQ feedback for 4C-HSDPA MIMO. In another aspect, the dispersion factor is set to SF = 128. In this way, the number of symbols that the ACK / NACK temporary slot can carry is doubled to 20, thus allowing two HARQ-ACK code words to be inserted into the ACK / NACK temporary slot. In this case, each of the two HARQ-ACK code words may correspond to a composite ACK / NACK for a group of one or two downlink carriers, in a manner similar to that described above in the case of using double channelization codes.

[0047] In yet another aspect of the disclosure, the above aspects can be combined, for example, by designing a new code book with a unique channelization code and the conventional SF = 256 for one or more configurations (for example, 3 carriers configured as S / S / S in one example), while other aspects are used for other configurations (for example, using a scattering factor reduction to SF = 128 for configurations of 3 carriers or 4 carriers in all configurations other than S / S / S). Of course, other combinations of the above aspects may be combined within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0048] FIG. 4 illustrates three schemes for implementing HARQ feedback according to various aspects of the disclosure. Box A represents the inherited case that uses a unique channelization code with a dispersion factor SF = 256; Box B represents a case that uses a unique channelization code with a scattering factor reduced to SF = 128; and box C represents a case that uses double channelization codes, each having a dispersion factor SF = 256.

[0049] In each of the cases illustrated in FIG. 4, k bits of information are introduced into an encoder 402, which can encode the information, for example, using various forward error correction schemes or any other suitable coding known to those skilled in the art. In box A, encoder 402A is configured to encode the k bits of input information to result in an output of n / 2 bits of encoded information. Next, the n / 2 bits are combined with a unique channelization code, having a scattering factor of SF = 256, as in an inherited system. As discussed above, a code book from which the channeling code for the appropriate HARQ feedback is selected according to the HARQ scenario can be implemented in such a way that the uplink transmission characteristics are substantially optimized.

[0050] In boxes B and C, encoder 402B or 402C is configured to encode the k bits of input information to result in an output of n bits of encoded information. In this case, encoders 402B and 402C can be substantially the same encoder. In box B, a unique channelization code having a reduced scattering factor of less than 256 can be used, for example, SF = 128 to encode the HARQ feedback in the channel. In box C, after the n bits of coded information are divided into two paths that can be allocated to double uplink carriers, double channelization codes having a scattering factor SF = 256 can be used to encode the feedback HARQ on the channel. As will be described in more detail below, the pipeline to encode the HARQ feedback in boxes B and C is quite similar, allowing both the grouping into groups of two downlink carriers to allow the use of code books previously designed for systems DC-HSDPA or conventional single carrier. That is, in box B, with a unique channelization code and a scattering factor reduced to SF = 128, the HARQ feedback for a first group of downlink carriers can be placed in a first part (for example, half ) of a temporary slot, and a second group of downlink carriers can be placed in a second part (eg, half) of the temporary slot. While, in box C, with double channelization codes, HARQ feedback for each of a first and a second group of downlink carriers can be placed in the same time slot, but separated according to division multiplexing of codes by means of double channelization codes. For example, double channelization codes can be substantially orthogonal to each other so that they can be resolved in a receiver.

[0051] FIG. 5 illustrates a temporary slot HARQ-ACK 302 as illustrated in FIG. 3, in more detail. In FIG.

5, boxes A, B and C illustrate a time slot for a single channel code with SF = 256, for a single channel code with SF = 128, and for double channel codes with SF = 256, respectively. That is, the AC boxes in FIG. 5 correspond to the AC boxes in FIG. 4. Returning to FIG. 5, the time slot 302A in box A includes a field 302A1 in which a single channel code symbol may be included. In this case, as discussed above, a code book configured to provide HARQ feedback for all downlink bearers can be used, so that a single channel code symbol will be sufficient to provide feedback for all link bearers. corresponding down. In box B, time slot 302B includes two sequential fields 302B1 and 302B2. A respective channelization code symbol can be inserted in each of the two fields 302B1 and 302B2. In this case, as discussed above, the dispersion factor can be reduced, for example, to SF = 128. Therefore, a channeling code symbol that has the same length as the case inherited within a half time slot can be used instead of a full time slot. That is, a reduction in the dispersion factor SF compresses the information over time. When the dispersion factor SF is reduced by a factor of two, the same part of information that was previously sent in a temporary slot can now be sent in the middle of a temporary slot. Therefore, reducing the scattering factor by two and grouping downlink carriers into groups of two carriers allows two pre-existing codebooks designed for two carrier systems to be used to provide HARQ feedback in a three or four carrier system, with respective codes used in each half time slot.

[0052] As a simple example, if a four-carrier 4C-HSDPA system is configured so that the first two carriers are configured for SIMO, but the second two carriers are configured for MIMO (ie, S / S / M / M), two of the carriers can be grouped into a first group (S / S), while the other two carriers can be grouped into a second group (M / M). In this case, the previous 3GPP standards defined in version 8 for DC-HSDPA included an appropriate codebook to provide HARQ feedback for two carriers configured as S / S. Therefore, this code book can be used to provide a channel code symbol in the first half 302B1 of the time slot 302B. Similarly, the previous 3GPP standards defined in version 9 for DC-HSDPA + MIMO included an appropriate codebook to provide HARQ feedback for two carriers configured as M / M. Therefore, this code book can be used to provide a channel code symbol in the second half 302B2 of the time slot 302B. Of course, these codebook examples that are reused from previous 3GPP standards are only exemplary in nature, and in a particular implementation, other codebooks of different pre-existing standards, other standards or even new codebooks can be used to code HARQ feedback for two downlink carriers.

[0053] Box C illustrates an approach that uses double channelization codes, with a dispersion factor SF = 256. In this case, the dispersion factor is the same as described in box A, so that a channel code symbol occupies the entire time slot 302C. However, double channelization codes are used, so that, as described above in relation to box B, the four downlink carriers in a 4C-HSDPA system can be grouped into two groups of two carriers each, and Pipeline codes provide division division multiplexing of HARQ feedback codes for each of the two groups of two downlink carriers.

[0054] In a system with an odd number of downlink carriers for which feedback is provided, such as a 3C-HSDPA system, each of the three approaches illustrated in FIG. 5, however, one of the downlink bearer groups will include only one downlink bearer. For example, in a 3-carrier system configured for SISO on the first two downlink carriers and MIMO on the third downlink carrier (i.e., S / S / M), a first group may include the first two carriers ( S / S), while a second group may include the third carrier (M). Therefore, HARQ feedback for the first group can use a channelization codebook defined in version 8 of DC-HSDPA, while HARQ feedback for the second group can use a channelization codebook defined in version 7 from DL-MIMO. Of course, as described above, these pre-existing code books from previous versions of 3GPP standards are only given as an illustrative example and are various aspects of the disclosure that can be used by any other suitable code book.

[0055] In other embodiments, HARQ feedback can be provided for any number of downlink carriers by using any number of codebooks that jointly encode HARQ feedback for a corresponding number of groups of two downlink carriers. .

[0056] FIG. 6A is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a UE 602 in communication with a node B 604. In this case, node B 604 transmits downlink signaling 606 in a plurality of downlink carriers, and the UE transmits HARQ feedback. 608 in one or more uplink carriers. For example, downlink signaling 606 may include four downlink carriers in a 4C-HSDPA system, and HARQ 608 feedback may be provided on an uplink carrier. In other aspects of the disclosure, each of the downlink signaling 606 and the HARQ 608 feedback can be provided on any suitable number of carriers. FIG. 6B is a block diagram illustrating certain details of UE 602. In the illustrated example, UE 602 includes a processor 610 to perform functions such as determining the HARQ feedback corresponding to each of the plurality of downlink carriers received in the downlink signaling 606. The processor 610 is in communication with a transmitter 620, a receiver 630 and a memory 640. The receiver 630 may include one or more receiving antennas 631, 632 to receive the downlink signaling 606, and the Transmitter 620 may include one or more transmitting antennas 621, 622 to transmit the HARQ 608 feedback on the uplink. Memory 640 may include any suitable form of data structures such as a first code book 641 and a second code book 642 for storing HARQ feedback symbols corresponding to a state of decoding of information received in a plurality of link carriers descending, such as an ACK, NACK, DTX or PRE / POST of HARQ. That is, the symbols stored in a codebook such as the first codebook 641 can encode the HARQ feedback for a subset of the plurality of downlink carriers. In this case, the subset can include any number of downlink bearers, including from a downlink bearer to all downlink bearers. In an exemplary aspect of the disclosure, the first codebook 641 it can include HARQ feedback symbols to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to two downlink carriers, and the second code book 642 can include HARQ feedback symbols to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a third downlink carrier. Of course, more than two codebooks can be stored in memory 640, and each of the codebooks can be configured to store encoded HARQ feedback symbols corresponding to HARQ feedback for essentially any number of downlink carriers.

[0057] In another exemplary aspect of the disclosure, one of the code books stored in the memory includes HARQ feedback symbols corresponding to the HARQ feedback for three downlink carriers configured for SIMO (S / S / S) transmission. In this regard, when a UE 602 is configured for communication over three SIMO downlink channels (S / S / S), a single code book can encode the HARQ feedback for all three carriers; when the UE 602 is configured for communication on any other arrangement (i.e. three carriers with at least one carrier configured for MIMO, or four carriers with zero or more carriers configured for MIMO), then the code books can be accessed for Store HARQ feedback symbols to encode HARQ feedback for a subset of one or two carriers. That is, the changes in an inherited system necessary to reduce the scattering factor or to use double channelization codes may be larger than desired for a case such as S / S / S where the size of the codebook is relatively small . Therefore, a special exception can be made in such a case to jointly encode the HARQ feedback for all downlink carriers in a single code book, and the feedback can be provided using a unique channelization code with a factor of dispersion SF = 256, similar to a conventional case.

[0058] FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating the 700 and 750 exemplary processes of wireless communication according to one aspect of the disclosure, in which the HARQ feedback corresponding to the status of the plural downlink carriers is grouped into two or more groups, and at least one of the two or more groups includes two of the downlink carriers. In process 700, in block 702, downlink signaling is received in a plurality of downlink carriers. For example, according to two exemplary aspects of the disclosure, downlink signaling can be received in three or four downlink carriers in a 3C-HSDPA or 4C-HSDPA system, respectively. In block 704, the HARQ feedback corresponding to each of the plurality of downlink carriers is determined. For example, processor 610 in FIG. 6B can determine whether the information encoded in the transport blocks in the corresponding downlink carrier is decoded correctly, or if anything is received at all. In block 706, based on the HARQ feedback determined in block 704, a first HARQ feedback symbol is selected to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of carriers, which includes at least two of the plurality of carriers . Similarly, in block 710, a second HARQ feedback symbol is selected to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers that includes at least one of the plurality of carriers. In an exemplary aspect of the disclosure, the second subset may include two downlink carriers in a 4C-HSDPA system, or a carrier in a 3C-HSDPA system. In block 712, the first and second HARQ feedback symbols are transmitted on an uplink. In some aspects of the disclosure, the HARQ feedback symbols corresponding to the first subset can be encoded by modulating the respective time slots in one or two uplink channels as described above and illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5.

[0059] In process 750, in block 714, a first feedback symbol is provided, corresponding to a state of a decoding of information received in a plurality of downlink carriers (eg, HARQ feedback). In block 716, a second feedback symbol is provided, corresponding to a state of a decoding of information received on at least one downlink carrier. For example, for a 4C-HSDPA system, the first feedback symbol may include the HARQ feedback for a first and second downlink carrier, and the second feedback symbol may include the HARQ feedback for a third and fourth downlink carrier. . For a 3C-HSDPA system, the second symbol may include only HARQ feedback for the third downlink carrier.

[0060] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a node B 810 in communication with a UE 850, where node B 810 may be node B 208 in FIG. 2, and UE 850 may be UE 210 in FIG. 2. On the downlink, a transmission processor 820 can receive data from a data source 812 and control signals from a controller / processor 840. The transmission processor 820 provides various signal processing functions for the data signals and of control, as well as reference signals (for example, pilot signals). For example, the transmission processor 820 can provide cyclic redundancy check (CRC) codes for error detection, coding and interleaving to facilitate forward error correction (FEC), assignment to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (for example, binary phase shift modulation (BPSK), quadrature phase shift modulation (QPSK), M phase shift modulation (M-PSK), quadrature amplitude modulation M (M- QAM) and the like), dispersion with orthogonal variable dispersion factors (OVSF) and multiplication with randomization codes to produce a series of symbols. Channel estimates from an 844 channel processor can be used by a 840 controller / processor for determining coding, modulation, scattering and / or randomization schemes for the 820 transmission processor. These channel estimates can be obtained from a reference signal transmitted by the UE 850 or from feedback from the UE 850. The symbols generated by the transmission processor 820 are provided to a transmission frame processor 830 to create a frame structure. The transmission frame processor 830 creates this frame structure by multiplexing the symbols with information from the controller / processor 840, resulting in a series of frames. The frames are then provided to a transmitter 832, which provides various signal conditioning functions that include amplification, filtering and modulation of the frames in a carrier, for downlink transmission over the wireless medium through the antenna 834. The antenna 834 may include one or more antennas, for example, which include arrays of two-way adaptive beam guide antennas or other similar beam technologies.

[0061] In the UE 850, a receiver 854 receives the downlink transmission through an antenna 852 and processes the transmission to retrieve the modulated information on the carrier. The information retrieved by receiver 854 is provided to a reception frame processor 860, which parses each frame, and provides frame information to a channel processor 894 and data signals, control and reference to a reception processor 870. Next, the reception processor 870 performs the inverse of the processing performed by the transmission processor 820 on node B 810. More specifically, the reception processor 870 desalts and widens the symbols and then determines the signal constellation points. more likely transmitted by node B 810 based on the modulation scheme. These soft decisions can be based on the channel estimates calculated by the 894 channel processor. Next, the soft decisions are decoded and uninterrupted to retrieve the data, control and reference signals. The CRC codes are then checked to determine if the frames were decoded successfully. Next, the data transported by the successfully decoded frames will be provided to a data collector 872, which represents the applications running on the UE 850 and / or various user interfaces (for example, a screen). Control signals transported by the successfully decoded frames will be provided to an 890 controller / processor. When the frames are not successfully decoded by the receiving 870 processor, the 890 controller / processor can also use a confirmation protocol (ACK) and / or negative confirmation (NACK) to admit retransmission requests for those frames.

[0062] In the uplink, data is provided from a data source 878 and control signals from the controller / processor 890 to a transmission processor 880. The data source 878 can represent applications running on UE 850 and various user interfaces (for example, a keyboard). Similar to the functionality described in relation to downlink transmission by node B 810, the transmission processor 880 provides various signal processing functions that include CRC codes, coding and interleaving to facilitate FEC, constellation allocation of signals, dispersion with OVSF and randomization to produce a series of symbols. The channel estimates, derived by the channel processor 894 from a reference signal transmitted by node B 810, or from the feedback contained in the mid-circuit transmitted by node B 810, can be used to select suitable schemes of coding, modulation, dispersion and / or randomization. The symbols produced by the transmission processor 880 will be provided to a transmission frame processor 882 to create a frame structure. The transmission frame processor 882 creates this frame structure by multiplexing the symbols with information from the controller / processor 890, resulting in a series of frames. The frames are then provided to a transmitter 856, which provides various signal conditioning functions that include amplification, filtering and modulation of the frames in a carrier for uplink transmission over the wireless medium through the antenna 852.

[0063] The uplink transmission is processed in node B 810 in a manner similar to that described in relation to the function of the receiver in the UE 850. A receiver 835 receives the uplink transmission through the antenna 834 and processes the transmission to retrieve the modulated information on the carrier. The information retrieved by the receiver 835 is provided to a reception frame processor 836, which parses each frame and provides frame information to the channel processor 844 and data signals, control and reference to a reception processor 838. The receiving processor 838 performs the inverse of the processing performed by the transmission processor 880 in the UE 850. The data and control signals transported by the decoded frames can then be successfully provided to a data collector 839 and to the controller / processor, respectively. If some of the frames were not successfully decoded by the receiving processor, the 840 controller / processor may also use a confirmation (ACK) and / or negative confirmation (NACK) protocol to support retransmission requests for those frames.

[0064] The controller / processors 840 and 890 can be used to direct operation at node B 810 and in UE 850, respectively. For example, the controller / processors 840 and 890 can provide various functions that include timing, peripheral interfaces, voltage regulation, energy management and other control functions. The computer readable media of memories 842 and 892 can store data and software for node B 810 and UE 850, respectively. A programmer / processor 846 on node B 810 can be used to allocate resources to the UEs and schedule downlink and / or uplink transmissions for the UEs.

[0065] In one configuration, the apparatus 850 for wireless communication includes means for receiving downlink signaling on a plurality of downlink carriers and means for transmitting the first and second HARQ feedback symbols on an uplink. In one aspect, the means mentioned above may be the receiver 854, the reception frame processor 860 and the reception processor 870; and transmitter 856, transmission frame processor 882 and transmission processor 880, respectively. In addition, the apparatus 850 according to this configuration includes means for determining the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to each of the plurality of carriers, means for selecting a first HARQ feedback symbol to encode the corresponding HARQ feedback to a first subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least two of the plurality of carriers, and means for selecting a second HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least one of the plurality of carriers. In one aspect, the means mentioned above may be the channel processor 894 and / or the controller / processor 890. In another aspect, the means mentioned above may be a module or any apparatus configured to perform the functions mentioned by the means mentioned above. .

[0066] In another configuration, the wireless communication apparatus 850 includes means for providing a first feedback symbol corresponding to a decoding state of information received on a plurality of downlink carriers and means for providing a second feedback symbol corresponding to a state of decoding information received in at least one downlink carrier. In one aspect, the means mentioned above may be the controller / processor 890, the channel processor 894, the transmission processor 880, the transmission frame processor 882 and / or the transmitter 856. In another aspect, the means mentioned above they can be a module or any device configured to perform the aforementioned functions by the means mentioned above.

[0067] Several aspects of a telecommunications system have been presented with reference to a W- ^{C dm A system.} As those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, various aspects described throughout the present disclosure can be extended to other telecommunications systems, network architectures and communication standards. That is, the modulation and multiple access scheme employed by an access network according to various aspects of the disclosure may vary depending on the particular telecommunications standard being used. As an example, the standard may include Optimized Evolution Data (EV-DO) or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB). ^{EV - D o} and UMB are air interface standards promulgated by the Third Generation Association Project (3GPP2) as part of the CDMA2000 family of standards and employ the CDMA to provide broadband Internet access to mobile stations. The standard may alternatively be Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) that uses Broadband CDMA (W-CDMA) and other CDMA variants, such as TD-SCDMA, the Global Mobile Communications System ( GSM) that uses TDMA; and the Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20 and the OFDM Flash used by OFDMA. UTRA, ^{E - U t R a,} UMTS, ^{L t E, L t E} Advanced and GSM are described in documents of the 3GPP organization. CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documents of the 3GPP2 organization. The wireless communication standard and multiple access technology actually used will depend on the specific application and the overall design limitations imposed on the system.

[0068] According to various aspects of the disclosure, an item, or any part of an item, or any combination of items, can be implemented with a "processing system" that includes one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSP), on-site programmable door arrays (FPGA), programmable logic devices (PLD), state machines, door logic, discrete hardware circuits and other hardware suitable, configured to perform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system can run software. It should be widely interpreted that software refers to instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, modules executables, threads, procedures, functions, etc., regardless of whether they are called software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language or otherwise. The software can reside in a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium can be a non-transient computer readable medium. A non-transient computer-readable medium includes, by way of example, a magnetic storage device (for example, a hard disk, a flexible disk, a magnetic tape), an optical disk (for example, a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disc (DVD), a smart card, a flash memory device (for example, a card, a bar, a USB keychain device), random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM) , Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable PROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable PROM (EEPROM), a log, a removable disk and any other suitable means for storing software and / or instructions that a computer can access and read. The computer-readable medium may also include, for example, a carrier wave, a transmission line and any other suitable means for transmitting software and / or instructions to which a computer can access and read. The computer-readable medium may reside in the processing system, be external to the processing system or distributed through multiple entities that include the processing system. The computer-readable medium can be made in a computer program product. By way of example, a computer program product may include a medium readable by Computer in packaging materials. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to best implement the described functionality presented throughout the present disclosure depending on the particular application and the overall design limitations imposed on the global system.

[0069] It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of the stages in the disclosed procedures is an illustration of exemplary processes. Based on the design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of the stages in the procedures can be redisposed. The attached claims of the procedure present elements of the various stages in a sample order and do not envisage limiting themselves to the specific order or hierarchy presented unless specifically mentioned therein.

[0070] The previous description is provided to allow any person skilled in the art to implement the various aspects described herein. Various modifications of these aspects will be immediately apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein can be applied to other aspects. Therefore, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown in this document, but must be granted the full scope compatible with the language of the claims, in which the reference to an element in a singular form is not intended to mean "one and only one", unless specifically indicated, but rather "one or more". Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term "some" refers to one or more. A phrase that refers to "at least one of" a list of elements refers to any combination of those elements, including individual elements. As an example, "at least one of: a, boc" is intended to cover: a; b; c; a and b; ayc; byc; already, by c. All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of the various aspects described throughout the present disclosure, which are known or subsequently become known to those skilled in the art, are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are provided to be encompassed by the claims. On the other hand, it is not intended that anything disclosed in this document be dedicated to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly mentioned in the claims.

[0071] Other aspects of the invention are described below to facilitate understanding of the invention.

[0072] In another aspect, a wireless communication procedure is described, the method comprising receiving a downlink signaling in a plurality of downlink carriers, determining the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to each of the plurality of carriers, select a first HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least two of the plurality of carriers, select a second HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least one of the plurality of carriers and transmitting the first and second HARQ feedback symbols in an uplink. In this way, the transmission can comprise modulating at least a first part of a temporary slot of an uplink carrier with the first HARQ feedback symbol. The transmission may also comprise modulating a second part of the temporary slot of the uplink carrier, other than the first part of the temporary slot, with the second HARQ feedback symbol. Modulation of the first and second parts of the uplink carrier may comprise using a scattering factor of less than 256 chips per bit. In addition, the dispersion factor may be 128. The modulation of at least the first part of the time slot may comprise substantially modulating the entire time slot of the uplink carrier with the first HARQ feedback symbol and the transmission may further comprising substantially modulating the entire time slot of the uplink carrier with the second HARQ feedback symbol. In addition, the modulation of the temporary slot with the first HARQ feedback symbol and the modulation of the temporary slot with the second HARQ feedback symbol may comprise using a dispersion factor of 256 chips per bit.

[0073] Still in another aspect, a wireless communication method is described, the method comprising providing a first feedback symbol corresponding to a state of decoding information received in a plurality of downlink carriers and providing a corresponding second feedback symbol to a state of decoding information received in at least one downlink bearer. Thus, the plurality of downlink carriers can consist of a first downlink carrier and a second downlink carrier. In addition, the at least one downlink carrier may consist of a third downlink carrier. In addition, the at least one downlink carrier may consist of a third downlink carrier and a fourth downlink carrier. The first feedback symbol may be provided in a first part of a temporary slot of an uplink channel, and the second feedback symbol may be provided in a second part of the temporary slot of the uplink channel other than the first part. of the temporary slot. In addition, the provision of the first and second feedback symbols may each comprise the modulation of the respective first and second portions of the time slot of the uplink channel with the first and second feedback symbols, respectively. In addition, the modulation of the respective first and second portions of the uplink channel time slot may each comprise using a scattering factor of less than 256 chips per bit. In addition, the dispersion factor may be 128. In addition, the provision of the first feedback symbol may comprise modulating a time slot of a Uplink channel with the first feedback symbol and the provision of the second feedback symbol may comprise modulating the temporal slot of the uplink channel with the second feedback symbol.

[0074] Still in another aspect, an apparatus for wireless communication is described, the apparatus comprising a receiver for receiving downlink signaling on a plurality of downlink carriers, a processor for determining the hybrid repeat auto feedback request ( HARQ) corresponding to each of the plurality of carriers, select a first HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least two of the plurality of carriers, and select a second symbol of HARQ feedback to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least one of the plurality of carriers and a transmitter for transmitting the first and second HARQ feedback symbols on an uplink. In this way, the transmitter can be configured to modulate at least a first part of a temporary slot of an uplink carrier with the first HARQ feedback symbol. In addition, the transmitter can be configured to modulate a second part of the temporary slot of the uplink carrier, other than the first part of the temporary slot, with the second HARQ feedback symbol. In addition, the modulation of the first and second parts of the uplink carrier may each comprise using a scattering factor of less than 256 chips per bit. In addition, the dispersion factor may be 128. In addition, the modulation of at least the first part of the time slot can comprise substantially modulating the entire time slot of the uplink carrier with the first HARQ feedback symbol and the Transmitter can be configured to substantially modulate the entire time slot of the uplink carrier with the second HARQ feedback symbol. In addition, the modulation of the temporary slot with the first HARQ feedback symbol and the modulation of the temporary slot with the second HARQ feedback symbol may each comprise using a dispersion factor of 256 chips per bit.

[0075] Still in another aspect, an apparatus for wireless communication is described, the apparatus comprising means for receiving downlink signaling in a plurality of downlink carriers, means for determining the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback. corresponding to each of the plurality of carriers, means for selecting a first HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least two of the plurality of carriers, means for selecting a second HARQ feedback symbol for encoding the HARQ feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least one of the plurality of carriers and means for transmitting the first and second HARQ feedback symbols on an uplink. The means for transmitting may comprise means for modulating at least a first part of a time slot of an uplink carrier with the first HARQ feedback symbol. In addition, the means for transmitting may comprise means for modulating a second part of the temporary slot of the uplink carrier, other than the first part of the temporary slot, with the second HARQ feedback symbol. In addition, the means for modulating the first and second parts of the uplink carrier may comprise means for using a scattering factor of less than 256 chips per bit. The dispersion factor may be 128. In addition, the means for modulating at least the first part of the time slot may comprise means for substantially modulating the entire time slot of the uplink carrier with the first HARQ feedback symbol and The means for transmitting may comprise means for substantially modulating the entire time slot of the uplink carrier with the second HARQ feedback symbol. In addition, the means for modulating the temporary slot with the first HARQ feedback symbol and the means for modulating the temporary slot with the second HARQ feedback symbol may each comprise means for using a dispersion factor of 256 chips per bit.

[0076] Still in another aspect, an apparatus for wireless communication is described, the apparatus comprising means for providing a first feedback symbol corresponding to a state of decoding information received on a plurality of downlink carriers and means for providing a second feedback symbol corresponding to a state of decoding information received in at least one downlink operator. Thus, the plurality of downlink carriers can consist of a first downlink carrier and a second downlink carrier. In addition, the at least one downlink carrier may consist of a third downlink carrier. In addition, the at least one downlink carrier may consist of a third downlink carrier and a fourth downlink carrier. In addition, the first feedback symbol may be provided in a first part of a temporary slot of an uplink channel, and the second feedback symbol may be provided in a second part of the temporary slot of the uplink channel other than the First part of the temporary slot. In addition, the means for providing the first and second feedback symbols may each comprise means for modulating the respective first and second portions of the time slot of the uplink channel with the first and second feedback symbols, respectively. In addition, the means for modulating the respective first and second portions of the time slot of the uplink channel may each comprise means for using a scattering factor of less than 256 chips per bit. In addition, the dispersion factor can be 128. The means for providing the first feedback symbol may comprise means for modulating a temporary slot of an uplink channel with the first feedback symbol and the means for providing the second feedback symbol may comprise means for modulating the temporary slot of the uplink channel with The second feedback symbol.

[0077] Still in another aspect, a computer program product is described, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium comprising instructions for making a computer receive downlink signaling on a plurality of downlink carriers, instructions for having a computer determine the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to each of the plurality of carriers, instructions for having a computer select a first HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least two of the plurality of carriers, instructions for making a computer select a second HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers that com turn on at least one of the plurality of carriers and instructions for having a computer transmit the first and second HARQ feedback symbols on an uplink. The instructions for having a computer transmit may comprise instructions for having a computer module at least a first part of a temporary slot of an uplink carrier with the first HARq feedback symbol. In addition, the instructions for having a computer transmit may include instructions for making a computer module a second part of the temporary slot of the uplink carrier, other than the first part of the temporary slot, with the second HARQ feedback symbol . In addition, the instructions for making a computer module the first and second parts of the uplink carrier may comprise instructions for making a computer use a scattering factor of less than 256 chips per bit. In addition, the dispersion factor may be 128. In addition, the instructions for making a computer module at least the first part of the time slot may comprise instructions for making a computer module substantially all of the time slot of the carrier uplink with the first HARQ feedback symbol and the instructions for having a computer transmit further comprise instructions for having a computer substantially modulate the entire uplink time slot of the upstream carrier with the second HARQ feedback symbol. In addition, the instructions for making a computer module the temporary slot with the first HARQ feedback symbol and the instructions for making a computer module the temporary slot with the second HARQ feedback symbol can each comprise instructions for making a computer use a dispersion factor of 256 chips per bit.

[0078] Still in another aspect, a computer program product is described, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium comprising instructions for making a computer provide a first feedback symbol corresponding to a decoding state of information received. in a plurality of downlink carriers and instructions to make a computer provide a second feedback symbol corresponding to a state of decoding information received in at least one downlink carrier. In addition, the plurality of downlink carriers may consist of a first downlink carrier and a second downlink carrier. In addition, the at least one downlink carrier may consist of a third downlink carrier. In addition, the at least one downlink carrier may consist of a third downlink carrier and a fourth downlink carrier. In addition, the first feedback symbol may be provided in a first part of a temporary slot of an uplink channel, and the second feedback symbol may be provided in a second part of the temporary slot of the uplink channel other than the First part of the temporary slot. In addition, the instructions for having a computer provide the first and second feedback symbols may each comprise instructions for having a computer modulate the respective first and second parts of the time slot of the uplink channel with the first and second symbols of feedback, respectively. In addition, the instructions for having a computer modulate the first and second respective parts of the time slot of the uplink channel may each comprise instructions for making a computer use a scattering factor of less than 256 chips per bit. In addition, the scattering factor may be 128. In addition, the instructions for making a computer provide the first feedback symbol may comprise instructions for making a computer modulate a temporary slot of an uplink channel with the first feedback symbol and the instructions for having a computer provide the second feedback symbol may comprise instructions for having a computer modulate the temporary slot of the uplink channel with the second feedback symbol.

[0079] In another aspect, an apparatus for wireless communication is described, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and a memory coupled to at least one processor, in which the at least one processor is configured to receive the signaling of downlink in a plurality of downlink carriers, determine the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to each of the plurality of carriers, select a first HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least two of the plurality of carriers, select a second HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least one of the plurality of carriers and transmit the first and second HARQ feedback symbols on an uplink. In this way, the transmission can comprise modulating at least a first part of a temporary slot of an uplink carrier with the first feedback symbol HARq. In addition, the transmission may comprise modulating a second part of the temporary slot of the uplink carrier, other than the first part of the temporary slot, with the second HARQ feedback symbol. In addition, the modulation of the first and second parts of the uplink carrier may each comprise using a scattering factor of less than 256 chips per bit. In addition, the dispersion factor may be 128. In addition, the modulation of at least the first part of the time slot may comprise substantially modulating the entire time slot of the uplink carrier with the first HARQ feedback symbol and the Additional transmission may comprise substantially modulating the entire time slot of the uplink carrier with the second HARQ feedback symbol. The modulation of the temporary slot with the first HARQ feedback symbol and the modulation of the temporary slot with the second HARQ feedback symbol may each comprise using a dispersion factor of 256 chips per bit.

Claims (7)

i. A wireless communication procedure comprising: receiving (702) a downlink signaling in a plurality of downlink carriers; determine (704) a hybrid automatic repeat request confirmation feedback, HARQ, corresponding to each of the plurality of carriers; select (706) a first HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ confirmation feedback corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least two of the plurality of carriers, in which the first HARQ feedback symbol is selected of one of a plurality of code books; select (710) a second HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ confirmation feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least one of the plurality of carriers, in which the second HARQ feedback symbol is selected of one of the plurality of code books; Y transmitting the first and second HARQ feedback symbols in an uplink, wherein the transmission comprises modulating at least a first part of a time slot (302) of an uplink carrier with the first HARQ feedback symbol, and modulating a second part of the temporary slot (302) of the uplink carrier, other than the first part of the temporary slot (302), with the second HARQ feedback symbol. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the modulation of at least the first part of the time slot comprises substantially modulating the entire time slot (302C1) of the uplink carrier with the first HARQ feedback symbol; Y substantially modulate the entire time slot (302C2) of the uplink carrier with the second HARQ feedback symbol. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the modulation of the temporary slot (302) with the first HARQ feedback symbol and the modulation of the temporary slot (302) with the second HARQ feedback symbol comprises using a factor of 256 chip dispersion per bit. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the modulation of the respective first and second parts of the uplink carrier each comprises using a scattering factor of less than 256 chips per bit. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the dispersion factor is 128. 6. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: means for receiving downlink signaling in a plurality of downlink carriers; means for determining the feedback confirmation of a hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, corresponding to each of the plurality of carriers; means for selecting a first HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ confirmation feedback corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least two of the plurality of carriers, wherein the first HARQ feedback symbol is selected from one of a plurality of code books; means for selecting a second HARQ feedback symbol to encode the HARQ confirmation feedback corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of carriers comprising at least one of the plurality of carriers, wherein the second HARQ feedback symbol is selected from one of the plurality of code books; Y means for transmitting the first and second HARQ feedback symbols in an uplink, in which the means for transmitting comprises means for modulating at least a first part of a time slot (302) of an uplink carrier with the first symbol of HARQ feedback, and means for modulating a second part of the temporary slot (302) of the link carrier ascending, other than the first part of the time slot (302), with the second HARQ feedback symbol. 7. A computer program product, comprising: a computer readable medium, comprising: instructions for having a computer perform a procedure according to any one of claims 1 to 5.